For Liberal Democrat councillors in the town and the rest of Ashfield have given their support to a national call from their party's spring conference.

They say that packaging is filling up landfill sites and not only causing problems for the environment but also adding to the burden on council tax.

What's more, they reckon the packaging is unnecessary and is simply there to make a product look more eyecatching on a supermarket shelf.

The leader of Ashfield District Council, Coun Jason Zadrozny (Lib Dem), met Scotland's East Dunbartonshire Lib Dem MP, Jo Swinson, at the party's conference to discuss the issue.

Miss Swinson is not only Parliament's youngest MP at 27 but is also a member of the Environmental Audit Committee at the House Of Commons and introduced the Packaging (Reduction) Bill in the last session of Parliament.

Coun Zadrozny said: "Packaging accounts for about five million tonnes of waste per year. Considering total domestic waste in Britain is currently about 26 million tonnes per year, this means a fifth of the waste produced by households is packaging.

"It is vital that we cut down on unnecessary packaging and particularly important we remember this as we munch on our Easter eggs. Most have far more packaging than is needed.

"We need to put pressure on manufacturers and retailers to use less packaging in their products.

"I urge residents to write to the supermarket chains with branches in Hucknall and the rest of Ashfield and tell them to make a commitment to cutting the amount of packaging used in the products they sell."

Miss Swinson said: "Excessive and wasteful packaging makes absolutely no economic or environmental sense. Despite increases in recycling, domestic waste has risen by a fifth since 1997.

"The average family now spends £470 per year on their food bills just to cover the cost of packaging. Government attempts to tackle the packaging problem have been too timid and slow."